Northwestern State point guard Jalan West is one of only four sophomores on the CollegeInsider.com 30-man Lou Henson Mid-Major All-America Team announced March 28, making him a finalist for the Lou Henson Mid-Major Player of the Year award and giving him his second 2014 Mid-Major All-America honor.

Earlier this month, College Sports Madness picked West for its Mid-Major All-America squad, making him a third-team pick on a 20-man roster, one of four sophomores on that squad.

The 5-10 West, the Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Year, is the only player in college basketball to average at least 19 points, 6.0 assists, 2.5 steals and 4.0 rebounds this season. He is one of just two players in the NCAA Top 10 rankings for assists (6.4 per game, eighth) and steals (2.5, eighth).

A career-best 36-point eruption in the semifinals of the Southland Conference Tournament, nearly lifting Northwestern to a season-extending victory over eventual NCAA Tournament entry Stephen F. Austin, raised West’s scoring average to 19.4. It made him the fourth player in 101 years of basketball at NSU to top 600 points in a season, and gave him the best single-season scoring average by a Demon since Eric Kubel and Larry Terry each averaged better than 22 points in 1993-94.

West, a Bossier High School product, was a first-team All-Southland Conference selection this year as the Demons finished 17-14 with 12 wins in their last 15 games. He shot 46 percent overall, 41 percent on 3-pointers, and sank 87.6 percent of his free throws, third best in school history.

He is 74 career points shy of becoming the 28th member of the Demons’ 1,000-Point Club. His 362 assists rank him seventh in school history and well past halfway to shattering Ryan Bundy’s record 552 from 1994-98. With 153 career steals, he is sixth all-time at NSU and on pace to break Tyronn Mitchell’s school record of 264 from 2002-06. West already has 120 made 3-pointers, with the school record at 200 by Jermaine Wallace from 2002-06, and his 70 this season ranks fifth in NSU history.

Along with his NCAA top 10 rankings this season in assists and steals, West is 25th in free throw aim, 36th in points per game and 54th in assist-turnover ratio (plus 2.35).

His production has helped the Demons rank second nationally in scoring average (86.6 per game), seventh in steals per game (8.7), eighth in assists (16.5), 24th in turnover margin (plus 2.7), 25th in blocked shots (5.4), 36th in free throw aim (74.1 percent) and 40th in field goal aim (47.0).

West was ranked as the nation’s fourth-best player under 6-foot tall late in the season by BleacherReport.com analysts.

Northwestern has won 40 games, with an overall 40-23 record, in West’s first two seasons, and reached the NCAA Tournament in 2013 when he was the Southland Conference Freshman of the Year.

West is the second Demon standout to make the College Sports Madness Mid-Major All-America team, joining 2011 senior center Will Mosley.

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